Posts Tagged ‘Granville St’

It is that time of year again where we look towards the dark side and scare ourselves silly for the hell of it! Read about all the cool events that are happening close by and around the city!

Friday Late Night Movies at the Rio Theatre
Check out The Rio Theatre’s late night movies on Friday nights. A Vancouver institution.
It’s got everything you could ever want:
- Cheap tickets
- Booze
- Hyper-into-it hipsters in costume, and hopefully yourselves in costume too!
- Yummy, delicious, buttered popcorn
The Rio Theatre hosts late night movies for adults (19+ only), so you won’t have any kids kicking the back of your seat and crying (that’s just that annoying drunk guy). The movies shown are classics, the kind that you haven’t watched since you had a VCR and a non-HD TV.

Vancouver Halloween Expo and Parade 2014Halloween Expo Saturday Oct 18, 10 AM – 9 PM – Sunday Oct 19, 10 AM – 9 PMThe Vancouver Halloween Parade happens – Sunday, October 19, 2014, from 12pm – 3pm
This is a brand new event and we hope that it is a success as there maybe a chance it will be a regular downtown fixture.
First the Expo itself will be a two day event that includes Cosplay with some famous scary and not so scary celebrities such as the following, The Alien, The Predator, The Smoking Man from X-Files, Dragon Ball: Gohan, Pokémon: Ash and May, Naruto: Kiba, Bleach: Aizen, One Piece: Nico, Robin, TMNT: April, and the Street Fighter: Ryu There will also be lots of other attractions and stalls with prizes for you allt o enjoy.
Starting at very close by at Davie St. and Granville St, the parade will then head north on Granville St, turns west on Smithe, then south along Howe St. back to Davie. Which is conveniently just a 5 to 10 minute walk from the hotel.
It is anticipated that there will be large crowds coming to this event – and we encourage everyone to take part in costume – because why not! Bear in mind this is a family friendly event so lets not try to scare the little ones too much, well, maybe just a little bit!

Regular Vancouver Halloween fixtures.The Stanley Park Ghost Train
All aboard all aboard for the train ride of your life – once again we invite the brave and the fearless to board the annual Stanley park ghost train, nestled deep in the dark depths of the forest this is the train ride you will never forget!Stanley Park’s famous Miniature Train becomes a Halloween-themed ride that takes you on a a journey of mystique, magic and some surprises for young and old alike, this will be pretty cool in the deep dark forest!

Fright Nights at the Playland and PNERuns from October 10 to November 1
Located at one of Canada’s oldest Fairground attractions which also hosts its original wooden rollercoaster, Playland now for the rest of the month becomes a ghoulish haven for the ghosts and other scary entities such as the humans that visit there. Featuring 7 haunted houses, including a brand new house, 13 rides,The Monsters of Schlock, and The Kinshira Fire Performers plus other terrifying shows and attractions.

There are a lot of events coming up this weekend for the celebration of St Patricks Day which falls on Monday March 17th, not only will there be a great parade to attend, great live music to get your ‘Jig’ on, there is also the finale to the European rugby tournament called the ’6 NATIONS RUGBY’ we have a sneaky feeling that Ireland will be title holders this year.

Before we delve into the sports, lets us fill you in on the upcoming events over the weekend…

CELTICFEST
There are some excellent events to attend with the grand finale of Celtic-Fest, here is a free event you can attend with all the family.Celtic Village & Street Market
Free for all the family!Saturday, March 15 | 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday, March 16 | 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Granville Street from Robson to Nelson & Robson Square
Just follow the sounds of laughter and music…Celtic culture and spirit lights up downtown streets & squares all weekend long!Sunday March 16 |12:30 – 4:30 pm – Featuring a live bands on the Mahony & Sons Music StageFurther Information:http://www.celticfestvancouver.com/schedule-tickets/2014/mahony-sons-stage.php

Celtic Circles
Special on-the-street locations where you can come upon Medieval sword-fighting and song and dancing olde worlde style!

CelticFest Community Stage at Robson Square
Delight in Irish and Scottish community dance groups, pipe up at the Penny Whistle Party, feel the beat at the Bodhrán Drum Circle, and groove to some hip Gaelic rap!

Celtic Street Market
Wander through happy crowds and shop! Artisan and craft booths offer everything from woven goods to jewelry, face painting and more. As we get closer to the festival, check the Street Market page for a list of market vendors.
Wander through happy crowds and shop! Artisan and craft booths offer everything from woven goods to jewelry, face painting and more. As we get closer to the festival, check the Street Market page for a list of market vendors.

ST PATRICKS DAY PARADE
The 10th Anniversary St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the festival’s largest and most popular free event, drawing people from all cultures, backgrounds, ages and all walks of life. This colourful (very green) display of fabulous sight and sound takes to the streets on Sunday, March 16th at 11:00 AM.

6 NATIONS RUGBY – Live @ Doolins.
The finale of the 6 Nations rugby will be happening on Saturday March 15th – it will be an early morning event, but if you are keen and eager get yourself down to Doolins where they will show all 3 games. This finale will have an extra bit of Spice as not only are Ireland likely to clinch the title due to an excellent points difference, and if they get the win over France it will absolutely be theirs! It will also be quite an emotional occasion for the Irish fans as their hero and now legendary player Brian O’Driscoll (who is the most capped played in Rugby union history to date) will be playing his very last game – so we anticipate it will be huge!6 nations Website: http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/home.php

Just for a bit of fun here is the Big Bus team having some St Patricks Day fun!http://havefunwithus.ca/stpaddys2014.html
Big Bus are awesome they are one of the best ways to see the city and they have sweet deals with the hotel, so come to the front and purchase your 2 day for the price of 1 ticket with us.Website:http://bigbus.ca/home/

Although we may not be in the actual ‘Downtown core’ – we are part of the downtown peninsula that sets the downtown area apart from the suburbs of the greater Vancouver districts.

This blog will explain how far it is to the major attractions and other popular tourist destinations that you may have to travel through, hopefully this will help with answering any of the questions that are required to help towards planing your trip.

To and from VANCOUVER AIRPORT (YVR)DRIVING – Upon leaving the terminal, you will be on Grant McConachie Way. Travel over the Arthur Laing Bridge. Stay in the far right lane at the end of the bridge onto Granville Street. Continue on Granville Street. After traveling over the Granville St. Bridge into downtown Vancouver, take the second left at Davie Street. Go four blocks up Davie and turn left onto Thurlow Street. Then take the first right at Burnaby Street. The second building from the corner on the right is Sunset Inn & Suites.

JOURNEY TIME -Around 30 mins

CANADA LINE (SKY TRAIN) YVR
Canada Line: First Train YVR/Airport to Waterfront – First Train 5:07am/ Last Train 1:05am
Canada Line: Frequency
Canada Line schedules provided are estimates only and are subject to change based on operational requirements.
Time of day Canada Line

TAXI-CAB
You can easily hail a cab at the Airport, the price to get from the Airport is roughly around $35 including Tip. (There are plenty of cabs to be found, just look for the signs to tell you where the pick up station is, any cab will be sufficient for your journey).CAUTION! A MAXIMUM of 4 PERSONS only are allowed to travel in a Taxi Cab when boarding within the City of Vancouver, even if you were able to fit more than 4 when you were travelling from the Airport. This is a city by law.PRICE $35 (with tip) TIME 30mins

CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL
It is always best to order a Taxi-Cab at the hotel if you are heading to the terminal – specify that you may want a Van Taxi if you wish to transport lots of luggage.
You can also hail a cab at the terminal as it is in an area where there are lots of hotels and shops etc, so it is a heavy traffic for Taxi Cabs too.COST & TIME It will take around 10 mins to get too and from the Hotel and Cruise Ship terminal at Coal Harbour/Canada Place and should cost around $12.

TSAWWASSEN FERRY TERMINAL – VICTORIA (Swartz Bay)
The easiest and most efficient way to get to Victoria from the hotel will be to use the PACIFIC COACH LINES at MAIN ST STATION. Order a Cab at the hotel, then it is a short 10 minute Cab ride to the Station costing roughly $12.
Proceed to the Pacific Coachline desk and here you can purchase your ticket and jump on the Bus. The Bus will transport you directly to Victoria town centre. The trip combines the Ferry Journey, read below to see the breakdown of the cost of travel.

GRANVILLE ISLAND
Driving is an option, although we do strongly advise that you get the False Creek Ferry to and from the Island.BY CAR – The Following link has the directions and map written out so you can print this if you wish to go by yourself https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&authuser=0

Or you can catch the Cute False Creek Ferry – Just walk South down Thurlow Street and continue along the hill until you reach the SEAWALL
Turn Left on the Seawall and you will walk towards the Burrard Bridge, a few minutes on and you will walk down the path to the Pick up terminal just before you reach the Bridge.

GASTOWN/CHINATOWN
The best way as it is the most direct route is by catching the NUMBER 6 Bus, you can pick this up outside Denny’s on Davie and get off at the Last Stop outside Water-Front Station at the mouth of the Gastown District.

SHOPPING DISTRICTS (ROBSON ST & METROTOWN)Robson St is very very close, just a walk Northbound up Thurlow St and in about 10 minutes you will be in the main shopping district of Vancouver!

METROTOWN MALL
This is the Vancouver/Burnaby area largest Mall and can be easily reached via the Number 6 Bus and then change at the GRANVILLE ST SKYTRAIN (Next to The Bay) Use the King George or VCC Clark trains to get to the Mall.

The big weekend is almost upon us where we dig out our lucky charms, don big red beards and wear green green green, for this is the weekend of St Patricks day, celebrated worldwide every March 17th.

Vancouver has plenty of events for you to celebrate this occasion, from Big Parades, to Green beer, and even a huge Rugby game against the English….please read further for the scoop on where to go to celebrate the Emeralds Isle biggest calender date.

The majority of the Irish bars will be welcoming one and all for this festive occasion,.so here is the list of what is Hot, Green and full of shenanigans…The Blarney Stone – Probably its biggest day of the year for this popular bar and music venue, the Blarney Stone will be offering up a delicious Full Irish menu, Green beers and fun for all the family to enjoy, the festivities for the family begins at 9am, then after 6pm it is open for anyone over the age of 19+ . There will be Irish dancers and live music to get you in the Paddy’s Day Spirit.Ceili’s Irish Pub (Granville St location) will have live dancers, bagpipers and a huge crowd to get you into the swing of things!
Other notable locations are, Doolins (Granville Street) Lamplighter (Gastown) The Irish Heather (Gastown) probably one of the most classic of all Irish Bars in Vancouver.

On the day itself, back in Europe there is the finale of the very popular 6 nations rugby tournament, the very final game of the 2012 season is between Ireland and England at Twickenham. Ceili’s Bar in Kitsilano will be showing the game live at kick off from 11am, this will be an incredible chance to see a potential scalp of the old enemy, wouldn’t this be an incredible way to get St Patricks day started with a win against the English….it can not get better than this. The bar will be open for the earlier match showcasing another Celtic cousin, Wales v France at 7.45am, so if you want to get ahead and start earlier head to Kitsilano at Ceili’s – 1774 West 7th, Vancouver, V6J 4T3.

There is also the St Patricks Day Street Parade, this will be on Sunday March 18th, and will wind its way north along Howe St beginning at the Drake St intersection, it will then turn onto Georgia St and finish at Georgia and Granville St where you can enjoy the fun packed Street party.

And finally, running all week is CELTICFEST….this is Western Canada’s largest celebration of all that is Celtic and of cultural heritage, now in its 8th year, this festival promises to rock your socks off throughout Vancouver, it encompasses dancing, family friendly events with over 50 free and ticketed venues for you all to enjoy, no matter what age you are, come and join in the fun!